Pulling My Weight

by Invincible Shadow

During the mission to Wave, Sakura realises that she has to become a better ninja for her teammates' sake and be someone they can depend on. She vows to take her training seriously, and receives help from the most unlikely of sources; Genma Shiranui. The two form an unlikely bond and stick together through thick and thin, while Sakura improves and meets other people along the way.

6. Chapter 6

thank you for the response for the last chapter, here's the newest one, also a monster!
just for references:
meanings of flowers: funeral-sympathy-collection/funeral-flowers-meaning
shogi just go on Wikipedia and same for the Japanese meals listed. that's what I did ;)
everything else should be fairly straightforward, but if there's anything that's weird or doesn't make sense feel free to mention it and i'll fix it!

---

When Genma officially began the battle, neither of the kunoichi moved.

Then, Temari spoke, "Forfeit." She demanded. "I don't know what trick you used during the preliminaries, but it won't work against my Wind. Save yourself the humiliation."

And because Sakura had been spending increasingly longer amounts of time with people who lived and breathed sarcasm, she couldn't quite help herself. "Awww," she cooed, delighting in the Suna-nin's confused stare. "you care. How cute." she grinned at the snorts from the audience before she sobered up. "But no can do, unfortunately, Temari-san." she told the other girl sagely, determination in her eyes. "You see, I have a couple of people whom I can't disappoint, so no forfeiting is taking place from my side any time soon."

Temari scowled. "You Leaf-nin are all the same." she sneered. "Fine then," and in a split-second she unclasped her fan from her back, brought it in front of her and swung. "Sickle Weasel jutsu!" she called out.

But Sakura had not been idle during that time. The moment Temari's hands reached behind her back, the rosette jumped away to create distance between them and crouched, hands flying through four seals which had become second nature to her after Genma-san's incessant training:

Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog-! She named each in her mind before finally putting a name to the technique a she slammed her hands against the ground just as Temari went to swing her fan, Earth Style Wall!

The wall of earth rose up, but Sakura carefully monitored its size, not wanting to needlessly waste chakra; as such, her wall was just tall enough to cover the height of her crouching form and less that a metre wide. Safely covered from the cutting wind, the rosette pulled out a pair of goggles and a scroll. Both had been gifts from Izumo and Kotetsu and Sakura distinctly remembered the conversation that went with them:

She stared at the goggles in her hand, noting their orange lenses and steel reinforced frames. Sakura glanced up at Kotetsu who'd been the one to hand them to her and frowned. "If this is your way of calling me out on my fashion sense, I get it okay, I know that red and pink don't go well together, I just really like red. Happy?" she'd sniped and was almost insulted when Kotetsu laughed as if she'd startled it out of him.

"This is in no way a means of calling you out or anything of the sort." he assured her through his chuckles. "Consider it a gift – your opponent uses chakra enhanced wind, doesn't she?" when Sakura nodded, he grinned. "I don't know about you, but I personally don't fancy having to squint and cover my eyes every time she swings that damn fan of hers."

When Sakura realised how thoughtful the gift actually was, she blushed at her earlier words. "Sorry." She apologised, "And- thank you." then, because she really could not help herself, she grinned teasingly. "Still, orange, really?"

At that, it was Kotetsu's turn to grin. "Okay, I may did want to mess with you just a little bit." and Sakura felt perfectly justified in the elbow she dug into his ribs in response. Then she turned to Izumo, who proffered her a simple scroll.

"Carrying the naginata on your back is not only rather uncomfortable but also a massive giveaway of your abilities." he told her. "The sealing technique is fairly basic and I'll happily walk through it with you in a minute."

When she smiled, immediately appreciative, Kotetsu seemed to have recovered from her jab and threw an arm around her shoulders. "These aren't just freebies though, pinky." when she scowled at him, he grinned. "Consider them incentive. Wipe the floor with that Suna girl. She ain't got nothing on you."

And Sakura remembered the sheer determination and gratitude that filled her then and tried to recall it as she slapped the goggles over her eyes, her vision tinting yellow, and peaked over the top of her impromptu wall. It seemed that Temari's jutsu was a double edged sword because the blonde had to stay still while it took effect and Sakura grinned. Crouching back down, she unsealed her naginata, shoved the scroll back into one of her pockets and waited.

When the wind finally started to recede, she didn't give Temari any time to recuperate: pumping chakra into her feet, she vaulted over the wall and, naginata in hand, and ran towards the blonde. She noticed the minute widening of Temari's eyes as she ran towards her and grinned. Unsheathing her blade, she made a slicing motion towards the blonde's abdomen using the extra reach of her weapon of choice to cover the last few metres between them. Temari was forced to snap her fan shut and jump back a little to avoid getting disembowelled, but Sakura wasn't done. She followed after the blonde, swipe after strike after jab, graceless but insistent, not letting the Suna-nin open her fan again and forcing her on the defensive. Finally, it seemed as if Temari's patience ran out and she grabbed her fan with two hands and forced one of Sakura's next blows aside, aiming to overbalance the rosette and force her on the defensive.

But Sakura had practised dodging two weapons at once from people far more skilled at close-combat than Temari was, so she merely twirled out of the way of the blonde's next strike and fell into a familiar dance of barely-there, dodging at the last possible second, her grin not leaving her face even as sweat began to bead on her brow and her breathing quickened.

She'd learnt this particular fighting style from Izumo – a method of not only minimising the amount of wasted energy by performing smaller, more precise evasions, but also limiting the amount of time during which she lost sight of her opponent. The added benefit was that she'd witnessed first-hand how frustrated Kotetsu had become after a few minutes of not being able to land a single meaningful blow, and she hoped Temari was equally impatient.

Her prayers were answered a second later; "Eugh!" the kunoichi groaned, and Sakura could see how tired she was getting, not only from being forced into close-combat which probably wasn't her forte despite being surprisingly proficient at it, but also from the sheer weight of her fan. Sakura's naginata, despite its size, was actually really light and allowed her to use the wide swing to conserve her energy by mooching off of its momentum. Temari's fan was more like a club in this context: a big, heavy brute of a weapon.

"Stop. Moving!" the Suna kunoichi shrieked and Sakura decided to tempt her luck; she stayed in place, directly in front of Temari for a second longer than she normally would, and the blonde jumped on the opportunity. She swung her shut fan over her head and drove it down with enough force that Sakura had no doubt it would've crushed every little bone in her body if she'd let it hit her.

But, at the last possible second, when she could literally see the individual scratches on the fan's frame, the rosette hopped backwards and let the fan bury itself a good six inches into the ground with the sheer force Temari had put behind the blow.

And then, when Temari struggled to pull the weapon out, Sakura quickly sprang forward, chakra in her feet, and she used the fan still embedded in the ground almost as a springboard, running up to its very hilt and delivering a harsh kick to Temari's chin, feeling something crunch beneath her heel.

The kunoichi was sent flying back a good five metres before she skidded to a stop, but Sakura didn't wait to see her handiwork, no. She jumped back, once again placing herself closer to her earth wall, having no doubt she'd need to hide behind it again in a moment and she went through another familiar set of seals;

Snake, Rat-! Hell Viewing technique!

But just as she completed the seals, Temari forced herself to her feet, fury in her eyes. "You little bitch!" she snarled as she ran towards her abandoned fan, snapping it open to reveal all three circles, "I'll show you! Sickle Weasel jutsu!"

Praying that the Hell Viewing technique would take effect soon, Sakura once again vaulted over the wall to hide from the cutting wind, but this time, after quickly assessing her chakra levels, a plan began forming in her mind. She waited till the last of the wind died out before she peaked out again, only to see the patented scowl on the kunoichi's face. She barely stifled a sigh at the taunting that followed.

"All you do is hide and dodge! Coward! Fight me properly!" when Sakura merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow, refusing to rise to the bait, Temari scowled and switched tactics. "I don't know what you thought it would accomplish, but if you think that a jutsu with just two seals is enough to beat me you've got another think-!" but before she could finish her taunt, Temari's eyes glossed over and Sakura grinned.

She straightened up, delivered a Genma-worthy one-liner, flashed through the – hopefully last for that match – set of seals and prayed her luck would last as she melted into the ground.

Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish technique.

Inwardly, Sakura grinned; Checkmate.

---

There were a few gasps and incredulous shouts when the Sand kunoichi was sent flying back, but mostly, the shinobi spectators were just amused.

A little pink haired girl from a civilian family against one of the Kazekage's children; on paper, that match should've been over before it even started. However, on paper, that should've also been true for the Yamanaka heir, but she had been defeated so quickly and soundly in the preliminaries that it was almost humiliating. And when the news of the rosette's match up spread to the Jounin HQ, there were some who were willing to place their money on another surprise from the civilian girl in the final rounds.

When the girl pulled out the naginata that was almost taller than her, there were a handful of sarcastic 'good luck' calls from some of the more cynical shinobi. But then, the rosette started handling it, and though graceless and definitely unpolished, it was enough to force the Suna girl out of her comfort zone. And when her seemingly never-ending bout of last minute dodges after she'd been forced on the defensive culminated in a firm kick to the blonde's chin that sent her flying, some of the cynics had been forcefully silenced.

Yet, as the blonde recovered from the second wave of chakra enhanced wind enough for the taunting to start anew, nobody quite expected for her to suddenly break off into incoherent mumbling randomly interspersed with short, blood-curdling screams. Finally, the rosette straightened from her crouch and sent a crooked grin at the screaming blonde.

"That's the thing with genjutsu;" she announced cheerfully, barely heard over the blonde's shrieks. "just when you think it didn't work, it comes back to bite you in the ass."

There were snorts and laughter amongst some of the audience but they quickly died away when the pinkette went through a set of distinctly unfamiliar handsigns and proceeded to melt into the ground just as at least thirty clones replaced her. No later than the last pink strand disappeared underground did Temari snap herself out of the illusion, her gaze wide-eyed and furious.

"I've got no idea where you get off on doing that, but you should know that no bunshin can withstand my Wind jutsu!" she declared heatedly and swung her fan again. "The one left will be you!"

"Not quite." the spectres murmured in eerie unison.

And as the merciless wind cut through the air once again, not a single clone disappeared.

Confused whispers filled the arena.

"Shadow Clones? Wouldn't be the first genin to do them today."

"No way, I'm thinking genjutsu."

"Not standard bunshin, that's for damn sure."

"Why not? They're not casting shadows either."

Everyone saw the moment something clicked in the blonde's mind. They watched as she pulled out a kunai and flung it at the closest clone, only for the knife to go right through it.

The next conclusion was also clear, but as Temari drew her hands into the 'kai' seal, her minute of inattention cost her. With her eyes closed and her focus solely on disrupting her chakra flow, she didn't notice the figure that rose up from the ground behind her.

Her chakra almost completely masked, the rosette emerged from the earth like something out of a horror movie, kunai in hand.

"Temari!" came Kankuro's frantic yell. "Behind you!" but before the blonde could whirl around, Sakura took the last two steps and pressed the kunai to her throat much the same way as she had done to Ino.

"I do not wish to hurt you but I will if you even think of moving." she whispered in Temari's ear.

But it seemed that she underestimated her opponent. Quicker than the rosette could react, the blonde seized her wrist and used the hand that was pressing the knife to her jugular to pull the pinkette over her shoulder and throw her into the ground a few metres in front of her.

The rosette's back impacted the ground with a dull thud and she let out a winded 'oof' as the breath was knocked out of her, but Temari wasn't done. For the fourth time since the beginning of the match, the Suna-nin swung her fan, the merciless wind once again filling the arena. Without the cover of her wall to protect her, the audience could clearly see as deep scratches appeared on Sakura's cheeks and uncovered hands, but the rest of her body was luckily covered by her clothes. When she managed to get her breath back, the rosette rolled to her knees, one hand cradling her left side around the area of her ribcage as she waited till the last of the wind died down.

Calling on the last vestiges of her chakra, Sakura flashed through two more sets of seals. The first one produced two Academy-standard bunshin, while the second one allowed her to melt into the ground for the second time.

"The same trick won't work again!" Temari called out, but nobody missed how she intentionally didn't try to attack the clones, clearly unsure whether these really where standard bunshin or not. There was a moment of silence and stillness as everyone waited for the rosette to surface, the Suna kunoichi growing more and more anxious by the minute. "Is every Leaf-nin a coward like you?" she called out mockingly, then suddenly shrieked:

An arm stretched up from the ground below her, grabbing her shin in a bruising grip and yanking hard towards the ground. Shrieking all the while, Temari smashed her folded fan on the hand gripping her leg, clearly breaking the fragile bones but also opening a deep, vicious gash in her own shin. Something that sounded like a muffled scream came from the ground before another arm rose up and successfully managed to grab the Suna-nin's other shin and a second later, the blonde was buried up to her neck in the hard earth, rendered completely immobile.

A moment later, the rosette emerged a few metres away from where Temari was buried, her right hand cradling her mangled left to her chest and tear-tracks visible on her cheeks, her lip bitten bloody, but there was an angry, victorious glint in her eyes.

"Initially, I planned to let you surrender gracefully." She hissed, her eyes glaring daggers at the immobilised kunoichi. "I wanted to let you keep some of that arrogant dignity you seem to hold so dear. But now?" she went on, letting her injured hand drop limply at her side. "Now, I'm not feeling so kind. Unless, of course," she turned to Genma, "the proctor thinks you can somehow keep fighting."

Genma was pleased to note that some of the anger in the rosette's eyes melted away when their eyes met and he had to resist snorting at her comment. He coughed to mask his grin and spoke:

"Due to the fact that Temari is no longer able to fight, I declare Haruno Sakura the winner of this match."

Ear-shattering cheers broke out.

---

It was only after Genma-san advised her to go to the infirmary to get her hand checked out did the seriousness and absolute pain of her injury override the wave of adrenaline she'd been riding since the start of the match. Sakura had to pause in her tracks and stuff the knuckles of her uninjured hand into her mouth to stifle her scream.

If she were to wager, Temari had managed to smash almost every bone in her left hand and it hurt more than anything she'd ever experienced before. And then, the fact that shinobi relied on their hands more than almost any other body part caught up with her and she could feel herself start to hyperventilate.

Oh, god what if they can't fix it? This looks seriously damaged! What happens if I'll never have my dexterity back? I'm barely a genin I can't afford not to be able to go on missions because I can't form any jutsu! I'll be useless for real oh god why didn't I forfeit-!

"Hey!" a sharp voice managed to stop her inner panic and she was suddenly faced with a pair of cold though slightly red-rimmed lilac eyes. "You need to breathe." The brunet commanded, his eyes boring into her and daring her to disobey. It took enormous effort for Sakura to calm down enough to listen, but as she forced herself to take a deep breath, it felt like she'd finally broken the surface after being underwater for a long time. The boy's eyes softened marginally when he saw her take another deep breath and he asked, "Do you want me to call a medic?"

Not trusting herself to speak, Sakura nodded, almost calling out when he turned on his heel and disappeared around the corner. The boy was back not a minute later and Sakura calmed down enough by that point to absently note that his posture was impeccable.

"They should be here in a moment." He announced and Sakura nodded gratefully.

"Th-thank you." She stammered out, still not quite recovered from her short but vicious panic-attack.

The boy nodded before his eyes flickered to her injured hand. "That was a good fight." He murmured absently, his eyes trained on the broken bones. "I wasn't aware that there was a clan in Konoha that specialised in Earth Release." When his eyes met hers, there was an inquisitive glint in them and Sakura felt herself blush.

Pretty. Was her main thought, exhausted and slightly delirious as she was.

"There isn't." she blurted. "Or, at least, my family isn't." when the boy's only response was to raise a – sleek, perfect, why is he so pretty – eyebrow, the rosette's blush deepened and she clarified with a slightly squeaky; "My parents are civilian!"

She didn't miss how his eyes widened slightly, but he only nodded thoughtfully. Before either he or Sakura could say something again, three medics appeared, two carrying a stretcher between them. When the boy merely nodded towards her and turned to leave – (Sakura would later blame her delirium for her forwardness) – she called out;

"Wait!" when he stopped obligingly, though didn't turn to face her, she continued, "I didn't catch your name!"

There was a hint of a smirk on his face as he finally turned around. "I'm Hyuuga Neji." Then, he was gone and Sakura was shepherded away by the medics.

It wouldn't come to her until after her hand had been thoroughly healed and bandaged and she'd been reassured that she'd have full dexterity back within a day the latest and one of the nurses had helped her fully calm down just why the boy had seemed so familiar:

He was the one who preached about fate and destiny and later had his ass handed to him on a silver platter by none other than Naruto not moments before her own fight.

Inwardly, Sakura despaired. Why are the pretty ones always assholes?

Then, the fact that he'd actually complimented her – well, her battle but still – finally registered and she was sure her face became as pink as her hair.

Damn it all.

---

She was released from the makeshift hospital just in time to catch the end of Shikamaru's battle against the Oto-nin, and Sakura had to admit, she was impressed. She'd asked Naruto to catch her up which he did with no small degree of enthusiasm, and Sakura grudgingly noted that Shikamaru was a genius behind that trademark laziness of his. Genma-san had told her something of the like, that it was somewhat an inherent personality quirk amongst the Nara, but to hear about it was nothing in comparison to seeing it with her own two eyes.

And then, as she was crunching a protein bar in hopes of speeding up the process of refilling her chakra reserves, Shikamaru promptly caught the Sound-nin with his shadows, and the rosette was equal parts amused and annoyed that he used the shadow cast by the wall she'd created and the holes left behind by Naruto's battle with Neji to increase the reach of his jutsu.

She scoffed, once a lazy freeloader, always a lazy freeloader, genius or no.

Shikamaru then had the gall to forfeit, using the excuse of his 'chakra running low' and the fact that he couldn't hear out of one ear as justification.

Sakura saw red. What a little-!

It seemed the rest of the audience, who had been so captivated and impressed by the Nara's unexpectedly-impressive handling of the situation not even seconds previous, shared her indignation and started booing the teen.

But then, the rosette reconsidered; though, really, it's smart that he forfeited. He would've had to fight me if he won and I would've had a longer recuperation period than him, not by much but still enough to make a difference. And though I don't doubt that in light of recent events he could probably think a good hundred steps ahead of me, that still doesn't change the fact that he'd have nothing to combat my naginatai should I have used it on him. And Genma-san did say that you can still get promoted if you show qualities of a chunin even if you don't win your match. Even if not, Shikamaru himself said he cares little for the advancement…

She stared at the Nara with wide eyes and newly found respect. So, he really is a lazy genius. What an oxymoron.

Yet, not a second after Dosu and Shikamaru cleared the arena, there was a swirl of leaves and in a much more showy fashion than Sakura could find it in herself to appreciate, her two other teammates appeared.

Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei.

She was guiltily delighted that Genma-san didn't seem to share the crowd's sudden ecstasy at the Uchiha's arrival; quite the contrary – he stiffly instructed her sensei to go find himself a spot in the audience while he called down Gaara to finally begin the much-delayed match.

But Sakura's attention was derailed from the scene below as Shikamaru chose that moment to join the rest of the competitors at the balcony and she winced when Naruto immediately jumped on him with accusations of being too lazy for his own good and insults and waving fists. Sakura took it upon herself to whack her teammate none-too-gently on the back of his head to get him to quieten down, then, when her eyes fell on Shikamaru, she gestured wordlessly to the spot beside her, far away from the obnoxious blond that was her teammate and away from the other Sand Siblings. The Nara ambled over to the indicated spot and they turned their attention to the match taking place below them.

After a few seconds, Sakura broke the silence, her earlier thoughts demanding to be voiced. "That was clever," she complimented, her eyes not leaving the arena. "lazy, but clever."

She felt more than saw Shikamaru's sideways glance at her and quietly elaborated. "You might've been low on chakra, but more than that, you had an unknown factor to account for." She murmured, finally turning to face him. She almost jumped at the calculative gaze that greeted her, but continued. "And you probably didn't know how you'd deal with bukijutsu being used against you."

The look in Shikamaru's eyes turned sharp. "I didn't think I'd need to know how to deal with it when I was preparing for this." There was an implied I wouldn't have needed to know how to deal with it a month ago in his voice and Sakura shrugged, a half-grin on her face.

"You do what you gotta do." She answered enigmatically, making Shikamaru snort.

She thought she heard a grumbled troublesome woman but she couldn't be sure. Deeming that conversation over, she turned to watch the match.

It seemed that Sasuke-kun's month of training had been focused on teaching him Lee's taijutsu and speed, and though impressive, Sakura couldn't help the bitter taste that formed in her mouth. It just… didn't seem fair.

And then, when the sand surrounding Gaara fell down, all hell broke loose.

Sakura felt a wave of fatigue nearly make her lose her feet and she gripped the banister to keep standing. Then, when she forced her mind to work despite the tiredness that seemed to sink deep into her bones and the heaviness of her eyelids, she noted hints of foreign chakra in her body.

Genjutsu… she thought weakly. Genjutsu! Kai!

Immediately, the fatigue lifted away and she was able to appraise the rest of the stadium. It seemed… it seemed as if Konoha was under attack. There were dozens of ninja dressed in foreign garb attacking shinobi in the tell-tale navy-and-green of Konoha's jounin, and Sakura tensed. Then, the Sand Siblings jumped down into the arena, seized the barely-conscious Gaara and between them, carried him out of the arena, disappearing over the wall.

Sasuke-kun immediately tore off after them, and Sakura nearly shrieked when two kunai sailed after the Uchiha, straight and true with his back as their target. At the last second, they were knocked off their course and Sasuke-kun was able to scale the wall with ease.

But Sakura's attention was on the two left in the arena – Genma-san and the man she belatedly realised was the Sand Siblings' sensei. There was a deep, fearsome scowl on his face, and all of his ire was directed at the brunet. And then, he was on him, and Sakura moved before her body quite caught up, her hands flying to unseal the naginata, an anthem of not Genma-san, please, not Genma-san I beg you-! Repeating in her mind like a mantra.

She landed soundlessly, ignoring Genma-san's wide eyes when he saw her, and moved quicker than she ever had before, driven on by some foreign desperation to protect, she flashed behind the Suna-nin, and with chakra coursing through her arms and enveloping her weapon in a baby-blue glow, she slashed at the man's back, channelling all her anger and fear and desperation into the strike.

He crumbled to the ground in a heap, an angry gash splitting his back from the left shoulder to right hip and bleeding freely.

Sakura's hands convulsed and dropped the naginata. She fell to her knees and vomited beside the fallen jounin's feet. She was shaking.

"Kid, hey, kid, breathe!" Genma-san was at her side, his hand on her shoulder as she shook. Sakura swiped at her mouth with the back of her hand and forced herself to stand, and the tokujo caught her when she swayed. His eyes were worried but the set of his mouth was firm, angry and determined. "You alright?"

Sakura nodded, turning away from the body on the ground. She didn't know if he was dead, but she couldn't find the will in herself to check. The growing pool of blood around him was enough to assure her he wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

"Genma-san… what's happening?" she whispered, barely heard over the commotion of the battle raging all around them but she couldn't bring herself to speak any louder.

"I think Oto and Suna joined forces and invaded." The tokujo murmured, equally quiet and Sakura shuddered.

"I… Is there anything I can do?" she asked after a beat, feeling guilty for keeping the brunet's to herself when a war raged around them.

"There was a genjutsu, right?" Genma-san asked rhetorically, his voice much calmer and steadier than Sakura felt. "I want you to get to the stands and try to break anyone you feel may be a ninja out of it; there will doubtless be some who missed it or didn't manage to break it. You're good with genjutsu, you'll be fine, and it'll keep you out of the direct line of fire."

Sakura nodded, but couldn't stop herself from asking, "And… and you?"

Genma-san shot her what was meant to be a reassuring grin, but fell miles short. "I'll be fine – I'll be doing what I do best, after all."

And then, Sakura really couldn't stop herself. She threw her arms around the man's shoulders and squeezed, stammering into his collar; "You're not allowed to die, okay?" and she pulled away before he could respond and picked up her naginata before disappearing into the melee to do what he'd tasked her with.

She missed Genma's answering "Neither are you."

---

But Kakashi didn't.

He'd made his way to the competitor's balcony, trusting Gai to handle himself while he got together those he could find to go after Sasuke. The boy wouldn't, couldn't handle the one-tail's jinchuuriki and his siblings all by himself, particularly not after already using Chidori once.

What he didn't count on was Sakura jumping down into the arena, not to go after Sasuke or hide, but to wield a weapon almost taller than her with practised ease and bring it down on the Sand-nin's back with the intent to kill radiating from every line of her body, not a single care if he lived or died after he fell.

Nor did he could on her throwing herself on Genma afterwards with a familiarity that, in his eyes, had no right to be there.

And then she jumped into the stands, disappearing amongst those still out-cold and those already fallen, right into the heart of the conflict which the Sakura he knew; the rational, if a bit cowardly Sakura, would've avoided like the plague.

His eyes fell on Genma and his confusion grew. Was that worry he saw in the usually unflappable tokujo's eyes as he gazed after the rosette? But Kakashi didn't have much time to think about that, as not a second later Genma too disappeared into the throng, kunai and senbon gleaming in the afternoon sun.

Absently, Kakashi drove the kunai in his hand into one Sound-nin's eye and shoved his elbow into another's nose. He'd have to have a serious talk with his pink-haired student once this whole mess was over.

---

In retrospect, breaking Konoha-nin out of the illusion seemed easy – when she was actually amongst the unconscious masses, most of whom were dressed in civilian clothing, she realised it was anything but. At first, she navigated by who still had a hitai-ate or a kunai pouch with them, but that mostly produced genin, who, after some brief thought and a helpful tip from one of the jounin fighting nearby, Sakura directed to helping evacuate the Academy.

After the fourth person she broke out of the genjutsu, the rosette settled on a simple mantra – "Sand and Sound invaded Konoha. If you're a genin, help evacuate the Academy. If chunin or above, help in the fighting."

It was only when she got to her tenth person that she got more than a nod and a quick thanks. The man was young and had a dark, neatly trimmed goatee and despite his clear youth, seemed to radiate confidence.

"How about someone stays to protect you?" he asked as he stood and settled behind her. Sakura had taken to crouching as much as she could as she shuffled in-between the benches and legs of those still unconscious, but she straightened to shoot him an incredulous look at which he smiled wryly. "I used to guard the Yondaime. Let's say I'm more inclined to protecting than I am to killing." He explained as he casually threw two kunai at a running Oto-nin which embedded in his thigh and sent him tumbling down the stairs.

Satisfied, Sakura nodded hesitantly and cracked a smile. "Then I'd appreciate your help." She acquiesced and continued with her task. She was surprised nobody noted what she was doing, but she reckoned that the enemy-nin were kept too busy by the jounin to pay attention to a measly genin, even if she had pink hair.

For once, Sakura thanked the gods for her weak, easily underestimated appearance.

"You can extend your senses to see who has most chakra rather than going by anyone who looks like a ninja." The chunin advised her and Sakura nearly smacked her forehead when she registered what he said.

I'm so dumb.

"I… I forgot about that." She said instead and did as instructed, calming down and stretching out her senses.

There.

She hopped two rows down to a rather large man with a small goatee and a bandana. Behind her, her temporary protector snorted derisively. "You'd expect a sensei to know the basics." When Sakura snapped the man out of the illusion and relayed her, by then, customary brief of the situation, he sprang up quicker than she'd expect from a man his size and, after a quick thanks, shunshined away.

"You knew him?" Sakura asked the chunin beside her, turning to small talk as her only chance at normalcy in this completely messed up situation.

"Yeah," the man replied somewhat amusedly. "He was my Academy sensei, Funeno-san."

The rosette nodded and extended her senses again, coming across a nin who, even unconscious had such volatile chakra that she flinched. When she navigated towards him, still trying to keep low, she nearly face-palmed that she hadn't noticed him before: he had bandages covering his eyes.

When she snapped him out, she had just about enough time to say "Oto and Suna have turned against us-" before his mouth twitched and suddenly, Sakura was pushed down to the ground, landing heavily on her knees and scraping her palms, her recently-healed hand giving a twinge of protest at the rough treatment. When she dared glance up, she saw one the bandaged man's hands pushing a knife into a Sound-nin's gut while another parried the blow of a katana. She watched in a mixture of shock and fascination as he twisted the knife and pulled it upwards, skewering the enemy nin before he let go and the man dropped like a sack of potatoes and stayed still. "Sand and Sound, you said?" and Sakura vaguely recognised him as the man who roughed up one of the genin during the theory exam, and she nodded in answer to his question. "And I take it Iwashi volunteered to be your protector?"

Sakura didn't recognise the name, but the man's gaze seemed to be focused over her shoulder, and when Sakura followed it she found the chunin who'd sworn to protect her fending off two Suna-nin. Not thinking much beyond help Sakura pulled out two kunai and sent them flying one towards one of the nin's head and another at his foot. He parried the one aiming at head but her other knife buried itself in his foot and he swayed, providing 'Iwashi' with a big enough window to slash at his throat and bury his other knife in the other nin's eye socket.

The rosette gagged at the same time as the bandaged nin muttered "Charming."

"Tonbo!" the chunin dubbed Iwashi greeted as he joined them, wiping his kunai on the leg of his pants. "You got caught under too?" he asked in a way that was painfully similar to the usual mocking that went on between Naruto and Sasuke-kun.

"Shut up." The bandaged chunin sniped. "You were doing a shit job if you were guarding her back." He nodded towards Sakura. "Kid might have the right idea breaking me out but she could use some situational awareness."

Iwashi scowled. "You're at least the tenth person she broke out under my watch, though I'm certain there were more before she got to me. I think she's allowed to be a bit out of it."

And Sakura tried not to show how touched she was that the chunin would jump to her defence which, for once was quite easy as she could feel irritation bubble up when Tonbo opened his mouth to, no doubt, snap back.

"Excuse me," she cut in before he had the chance to. "but could we perhaps save the bickering to a time when, oh, I don't know, we aren't surrounded by enemy shinobi?" she snapped, letting her short-tempered side make an appearance. Both chunin turned to her in slightly stunned silence, but then Tonbo smirked.

"Well, in any case, I suppose two pairs of eyes are better than one." When Sakura sent him an incredulous look he scowled. "Get to it, kid."

So she did, and five more chunin and one tokujo were broken out of the illusion while the chunin guarded her back. And then, when her chakra fell to worryingly low levels and she took a split-second break before she moved onto her next target, she grew worried to note that they'd moved to the part of the stands that seemed to have the most fighting going on around them and it was with a sick feeling in her stomach that she noted that both Iwashi and Tonbo were currently engaged with five enemy shinobi between them. Feeling suddenly vulnerable, Sakura set her hands in the seal for the invisibility genjutsu but was forced to abandon it when a kunai with her name on its hilt came sailing at her head. She ducked, barely managing to evade it, and when she straightened there were suddenly two Sound-nin in front of her, matching camouflage outfits and fearsome scowls in place.

Sakura managed to duck the kick aimed at her head from one and mostly twirl out of the way of the elbow aimed at her ribs, but a punch to the solar plexus left her gasping for breath and seeing stars. She fell to her knees and in a ditch attempt to do something she slammed her palms against the ground and channelled chakra. She was surprised to find herself sinking into the stone of the gallery floor, but underground seemed much safer than above ground. She stayed under for a few seconds as she waited for the pain to recede and give her a chance to catch her breath, then sought out one of the nin who'd attacked her with her chakra. Moving just beneath him, she forced her arm above ground and snagged his ankle, pulling him under as she clambered to pull herself out of the softened stone. She kicked the head of the Oto-nin that poked out of the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Unconscious or dead, her mind supplied. What mattered was not after her anymore.

But no sooner had she done that did the nin's partner show up once again, kunai in hand and fury in his eyes. Sakura ducked, rolled, but ended up taking a deep gash to her shoulder in exchange for the deep, gaping wound she left in the other nin's stomach. Hands flashing through seals that had become second nature, she called forth the last vestiges of her chakra and cast the Hell-Viewing technique, but she didn't trust it to keep the man occupied for long. Even before she saw his eyes glaze over, she was unsealing her naginata and delivering a quick, decisive swipe, cutting the nin's throat open to the point where arterial spray managed to get on her jacket as he went down and her stomach roiled again at the sight.

She had enough time to see Iwashi's widened eyes before a shadow fell over her and a sharp, searing pain in her left side nearly knocked her off her feet.

Then came a heavy blow to the back of her head and Sakura's vision went black.

---

Genma sat on one of the cheap, plastic chairs provided by the hospital, eyes on the splash of pink against the backdrop of stark hospital white.

Three weeks.

She'd been in a coma for three weeks. And that wasn't even the worst news he'd heard over that time.

Then, he sensed a figure in the corner of the room and his irritation spiked. "Why are you hiding, Hatake?" he snapped, patience wearing thin.

Kakashi appeared, signature book in place and the fake eye-smile he always utilised when he wanted to get under people's skin shining clear. "I'm not hiding, I'm watching." Then, all pretence of civility was abandoned. "I heard that it was your orders that put my student in a coma. Excuse me if I'm a bit uneasy letting you spend time with her unattended."

Genma scowled. "Ah, yes, because your orders would've been so much better – you would've had her fight a jinchuuriki. I merely placed her in a position where she could do what she was good at with a much lower risk to her life, and from what I hear, she did a damn good job."

"Yes, because landing in a hospital for three weeks with a concussion constitutes a job well done." The jounin replied, his words dripping with condescension as he snapped his book shut. "I know you're shit at protecting those close to you but I wouldn't have expected for you to meddle with my student."

Genma's blood ran cold and he saw red. "If I hadn't meddled, as you put it, she would've been dead not unconscious." He hissed, rising to his feet. "Probably wouldn't even have survived the goddamn Forest with the amount of attention you paid her. Why is it you only start caring about people after they're dead or dying, hm, Hatake?"

He'd pushed too far. Deep in his mind, Genma felt guilt flare up, but that was swallowed by the sheer anger he felt at the man in front of him. "Did you even see her match? I know you expected her to lose, what with not even assigning her a trainer for the month, but did you see it? She won, and she won soundly."

"And I expect you want some medal for that, do you?" Kakashi snapped, stepping closer. "Sakura was always a capable kunoichi, I'm not blind nor stupid despite what you seem to be implying."

"Really?" Genma asked in mock shock. "Then why did you never clue in to the fact that she's a genjutsu type, and got her started on something appropriate? Why did it take an A-Rank mission which she shouldn't have even been on for her to start to work on her skills? She's got amazing control, she's intelligent and incredibly determined. If you actually saw something more than the lone Uchiha on your team then she could've started training seriously from the start and been in intel-gathering in the next year or so; she's definitely got the smarts for it!"

Kakashi's gaze turned cold. "Because I wanted my team to enjoy being children." He spat. "Though you didn't seem to have those scruples; she'll land in a wet-works squad with how you've been guiding her!" the jounin lost his temper, taking one last step so less than a metre separated him from Genma.

The man in question flinched. "We're shinobi." He stressed. "They can't stay children forever, and they'll die before they hit puberty if you keep up with this bullshit you call teaching." Genma scolded. "But you really should get to know your genin better; their life won't be sunshine and rainbows forever and Sakura knows that, more than that, she can handle it!"

"She puked when she cut down that Sand ninja!"

"That's 'cause you've never let her fight any actual battles! How do you expect her to be used to the sight of blood when you've never let her get near it?!"

"I don't want her to get near it!" Kakashi snapped, though he cut himself off when he saw the worriedly satisfied look in the tokujo's eyes.

"Ah," Genma murmured at last, contemplative and far calmer than he was mere seconds ago. "I see. This explains quite a lot."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed when a lazy smirk stretched across the brunet's lips. "You don't see Sakura when you look at her. You see the Nohara girl."

For a moment, the Kakashi too saw red. Then he was moving forward, electricity gathering in his hand and aiming at the tokujo's smug smirk, Genma's own hand reaching for his poison dipped senbon when-

"Oi, idiots, calm down!" Tsunade's strong voice commanded, freezing both in their tracks, Kakashi's Chidori crackling out of existence. "There will be no more fighting over prepubescent genin or you'll both be removed from active service for as long as I please, understood?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Genma murmured, stepping down graciously and tucking his senbon away. Kakashi merely nodded, taking a step back though his visible eye remained narrowed dangerously.

"And Hatake, if I see you pull that technique one more time while you're meant to be recovering, I'll personally shove my foot so far up your a-!"

"-Tsunade-hime, no need to get crude." Jiraiya teased as he too ambled into the room. "I think it's positively adorable they were fighting over the girl. If she were slightly older this would've been like something straight out of one of my books: two jealous lovers, fighting over-!"

"Jiraiya, you'll be sharing Hatake's fate if you don't shut up this instant." Tsunade hissed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

The Toad Sannin wisely fell silent. Tsunade walked over to the bedridden pinkette, her hand glowing first white then green as it rested over her forehead before she lightly poked it and stepped back.

To their surprise, the rosette's eyes began moving beneath her eyelids before a frown creased her brows and she attempted to pry them open only to curse hoarsely and flinch when light hit her retinas. Hands flying to cover her eyes she turned on her side, muttering something about waking up in dark rooms instead of this what even why would you-

"Kid," Tsunade cut her off though the corner of her lips twitched up in amusement. "look at me."

Grudgingly, Sakura turned towards the voice and tried opening her eyes again, only for them to widen and her jaw to drop when they fell on Tsunade. Her gaze travelled from the woman's face to her obvious cleavage then back to her face as they settled on the diamond in the middle of her forehead.

"I- but- you- you should be at least-!" she spluttered, frowning when she tried to force her sluggish, half-asleep brain to do some basic maths. "At least fifty!" she exclaimed at last, not noticing the twitch that formed in Tsunade's brow. "How can you look like you're not a day over twenty five?" she demanded, too out of it to realise her blunder.

Her eyes flashed to the other occupants of the room, noting Kakashi-sensei's angry gaze and Genma's relieved expression and how the white-haired man seemed to be barely stifling his laughter.

Wait. White haired?

"Genma-san," she called out before Tsunade had a chance to respond. At the brunet's obliging 'yes, kid?' she continued "why are two of the Legendary Sannin gathered in my hospital room?" she asked cautiously.

(Kakashi tried not to dwell on the fact that she asked Genma, not him, and he shot a glare at the brunet, who, judging by the smug smile on his face also noticed the slip-up.)

"Well, brat, one of those Sannin is now your Hokage, so you might wanna show some more respect." He answered though there was a grin on his face. "Just, y'know, as a forewarning." He teased.

Sakura frowned as her eyes flickered between the two legends. "Hokage? But…" she scowled when her drugged mind refused to work as fast as she needed it to. "But Jiraiya-sama denied Hokageship when it was first offered to him so why would he change his mind? And Tsunade-sama cut all ties with the Village a good twenty years ago…so why…?" she was muttering to herself, clearly thinking out loud but seemingly unaware of it thus she didn't notice when Tsunade's irritated look melted into something surprised while Jiraiya looked contemplative.

"Because I lost a bet with a blond brat so I had to come back and assume the position I never wanted." Tsunade answered at last. "And Jiraiya has nothing better to do, apparently."

"Maa, hime, that hurts, you know?" the Sannin teased and Sakura had to struggle to convince herself that the expression on his face was not a pout. Because… just no.

"How long… how long have I been here?" she asked suddenly, her eyes widening. "The invasion-! What happened?" and she winced suddenly, her hand coming up to cradle the back of her head. "And why does my head feel like someone hit it with a sledgehammer?"

Genma snorted. "Because according to Iwashi, that's exactly what happened." He murmured, and the rosette's eyes widened.

"Iwashi-san!" she exclaimed, "And Tonbu-san! Are they alright? Did anything happen to them?"

"I'd worry about your own wellbeing before I worry about anyone else, Sakura-chan." Kakashi-sensei replied and Sakura stared at him curiously, wondering why he deflected the question though she nodded in acknowledgement of his words. Almost unconsciously, her eyes flickered to Genma-san who smiled slightly and shook his head.

"Both are right as rain and hope you get better soon. You gave them quite the scare." He assured her and Sakura smiled, relieved.

"You should be fine to leave in about a day or two." Tsunade announced. "I want you in my office in a week's time." She told her. "And if you prove to be Kakashi's student in more than just name and turn up late, I'll have you doing D-Ranks for months."

And so saying, she walked out, Jiraiya following on her heels after sending her a parting wave.

Her eyes flickered from Genma-san to Kakashi-sensei, but before she could say anything the latter disappeared, only the smoke from shunshin clueing her in to the fact that he was ever there to begin with.

Turning confused and more than a little hurt eyes to the tokujo, Sakura fought the tremble in her lower lip. "I… is Kakashi-sensei angry with me?" she asked quietly, her voice much smaller than Genma was used to. He fought the urge to run or cringe and instead sat back down in the chair he'd been before the whole spat with Hatake took place.

"Nah kid, if anything, he's pissed at me." He assured her though his desire to run only increased when her eyes became glossy.

"But he's angry with you because of me, isn't he?" and the brunet cursed the fact that she was still so perceptive even after being completely out of it not ten minutes ago. Genma-san's silence spoke for itself and Sakura sighed, but swiped angrily at her eyes and resolved to deal with the issue of her sensei as soon as she could. "'m sorry." She murmured instead, sending Genma-san a guilty look.

The tokujo snorted at her words. "Whatever for? It's about time for Hatake to pull that stick out of his ass." He grumbled, before he settled more comfortably – if a 'comfortable' position could even be found on the hospital chair – and sighed. "But now that he's gone, the task of catching you up on the last three weeks has fallen to me, so you better sit quietly and listen 'cause I got a lot to get through." The rosette nodded and Genma sighed one last time before he began.

When he was done, Sakura couldn't believe her ears. The Sandaime… was dead? Killed by the same man who was after Sasuke in the Forest? That was the point of the joint alliance against Konoha?

(She realised Genma-san said that Suna was double-crossed by Orochimaru as he'd killed their Kazekage, but it was of little comfort; their supposed ally had still lent a hand in the murder of their Hokage).

More terrifyingly, Naruto and Sasuke had fought a fully-transformed tailed beast? That was something that had Sakura gaping in disbelief – she wasn't all too savvy of the beasts that were rumoured to have once made up the Ten Tails, but even she knew that a monster was far beyond the skillset of genin. (The fact that they'd survived only served to further cement the notion that Sakura was but a little girl on a team of powerhouses.)

Then Genma-san told her that two other criminals came to Konoha and one of their techniques managed to send Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei to the hospital for nearly as long as her. "Kakashi shouldn't have been walking yet, and the Uchiha is still on bedrest." Genma'd said.

Sakura also found out that she missed the Sandaime's funeral and the chance to pay her respects to all others who'd perished in the battle that ensued, a fact that made her more than a little annoyed at herself for being so easily taken out and for so long, and she vowed to make a detour to the memorial stone to properly acknowledge the lives that had been lost.

"Oh," Genma-san added, remembering something. "do you remember that Sunagakure jounin you cut down before I sent you off?" bile rose in Sakura's throat but she nodded; how could she forget? "He survived." The tokujo informed her, and something like relief washed over her. "He'll be crippled and probably forced to retire from active service, but he'll live." And there was another wave of something much like vindictive satisfaction that chased a fleeting thought of serves him right before Sakura forcefully banished that train of thought.

"Thank you for telling me." She murmured, smiling gratefully at the brunet and trying to convey all her gratitude in that single expression. "Is that all?" she asked quietly when Genma-san didn't reply.

She didn't expect him to suddenly look ten years older or for his sigh to sound so miserable. "No." he whispered at last, and when his eyes rose to meet hers, Sakura jumped at the grief in them. "No. Sakura- I'm so sorry-"

Sakura's stomach plummeted.

Never, in all the weeks they had known each other had Genma-san called her by her name. It was always 'kid' or 'brat' and she'd clued in to the fact that after a few weeks they became terms of endearment, so she got used to them. To hear her name from the tokujo's lips was more of a bad omen than a blessing.

"What happened?" she demanded weakly, her voice suddenly dry.

Genma-san's swiped a hand over his face, closing his eyes for a moment. "There was a summon." He murmured. "A giant three-headed snake, undoubtedly one of Orochimaru's. They summoned him outside of the Village gates so nobody would be suspicious, but then… it got into the Village." Sakura held her breath. "It was too big for just a handful of shinobi to handle, and impossible to be taken down with just one jutsu, regardless how strong. Before we got enough manpower, it- it decimated the civilian district."

Sakura felt like she'd swallowed ice. No…

"Genma-san…" her eyes fell on the lone bouquet by her bedside and only a regulation uniform on one of the stools, none of her usual dresses or casual clothes from home. No, no, no! "Genma-san… my parents…?" she couldn't bring herself to finish the thought, her throat suddenly tight with tears as she gazed at the tokujo, hoping against hope, entreating him to tell her everything would be alright.

He shook his head, his own eyes strangely damp. "They were at home, they probably hadn't even realised what was happening-" Genma cut himself off. "Your house was flattened, Sakura." He waited, letting her come to terms with the implications of those words.

"No-!" Sakura didn't even realise that it was her who'd spoken. Her voice was so raw, so heartbroken, so not hers but she didn't dwell on it. There were tears streaming down her face and sobs racked her frame but she clung to hope. "There's- there's a chance they escaped!" she hiccupped. "They could've gotten out, you don't know-!" but she cut herself off at the sorrowful glance Genma-san shot her.

"I went to your house the day after the invasion to tell your parents that you got injured but they shouldn't worry." He paused and coughed. "They- they were laid out on the street." He closed his eyes at the heartbroken sob that escaped the rosette. "The whole neighbourhood was. I… I positively identified the bodies. I'm so sorry."

For a moment, Sakura was still.

And then she broke down, tears streaming down her face and violent, heartbroken sobs wracking her small frame, a sniffled mantra of no, no, please, no, oh god, no escaping her with every sob. Before he could second-guess himself, Genma stood from his chair and perched beside the girl, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his chest, letting her cry into his flak jacket while he whispered meaningless comforts into her hair.

They lost track of time, but at some point, Sakura drifted off, exhausted by her crying.

When she woke up, Genma-san was back in his chair, and though the grief was still fresh in her soul, her eyes had shed all their tears. "You said my house was flattened." She murmured, her voice sounding wet and broken even to her ears. "I… Genma-san, I have nowhere to go after I'm released from here." She coughed to clear her throat. "I officially became an adult when I graduated so I won't be welcomed at the orphanage, I have no relatives who live in Konoha nor any money of my own; I have nowhere to stay."

For the first time since she woke up in the hospital, Genma-san looked at her like he used to; in sarcastic disbelief. "Kid, are you stupid?" and Sakura didn't even have time to rejoice that the old nickname was back, nor to be indignant at the question. "You just lost your parents – do you really think I'd let you stay anywhere else but with me?"

When Sakura stared at him with wide eyes, he shook his head though a small smile played on his lips. "I have a spare guestroom that you can use, and my apartment's big enough for two, at least until the rebuilding process is over."

But then, the rosette grew glum once more. "I can't possibly impose on you like that, Genma-san." She protested, her eyes downcast. She was not expecting Genma-san to suddenly snort and thwack her on the back of the head.

"If you so much as think that word again, I'll have you running a hundred laps around Konoha the second you're released from here, recuperation period be damned." He threatened, and Sakura felt a small albeit genuine smile pull on the corners of her lips. Her grief was still fresh and would be for a long time, but she was grateful to the man in front of her, so impossibly, adamantly thankful.

"Okay." She whispered, her eyes hopeful. "I'd like to live with you."

---

When she was released from the hospital the next day, Sakura insisted on going to her old house, just to reconcile what she remembered her house to look like with what she expected to see from Genma-san's report. The tokujo himself was at her side like an insistent shadow, radiating silent support and understanding and Sakura couldn't have expressed in words how much she appreciated having him there, despite the fact that she felt guilty for monopolising his time.

What she saw when they got there made a few tears escape her once again. Only the small rosebush in the front yard clued her in to the fact that the pile of rubble before her was her old house. That, and the hint of the kitchen table underneath tonnes of debris and concrete. She stood there for a moment, soaking it in, before she sighed and swiped at her eyes before any sobs could escape. She nodded to Genma-san and they set off towards the cemetery, stopping by the Yamanaka flower shop on the way.

Ino's mother stood behind the counter and she smiled at Sakura, surprised to see her there. But the smile faded when Sakura explained just what kind of bouquet she would like, much to Genma-san's confusion: the rosette requested white chrysanthemums, lilies and white roses, with one single, dark crimson rose in the middle. Ino's mum quietly sorted it and arranged the bouquet so artfully Sakura almost smiled, but the woman shook her head when the pinkette offered her the money to cover the bouquet.

"Sakura-chan… who?" she asked instead.

Sakura should've known her peculiar choices would not slip past the woman, particularly not when her daughter was the one who'd taught Sakura the meaning of each individual flower when they were children. Swallowing the lump that suddenly formed in her throat, she murmured, "My parents, Yamanaka-san." Before she realised, Sakura found herself with a face-full of the blonde's bosom as she pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan." She whispered into her hair. "You know you're always welcome at our house if you need it."

"Thank you, Yamanaka-san." Sakura whispered back, infinitely grateful.

She grabbed the bouquet and left the shop, thanking Genma-san for waiting for her as they walked towards the cemetery. The tokujo shrugged. "No problem. You know her?"

It was Sakura's turn to shrug. "I was best friends with her daughter when we were younger." She divulged, feeling a tad melancholy.

"'Was'?" Genma-san echoed, raising an eyebrow.

Sakura stared ahead as she reminisced, glad for the distraction. "Ino – that's her daughter – was 'in love' with one of the boys in our class, Sasuke, actually. A lot of the girls were, though, I guess it was more of a trend than any actual 'love'. The Uchiha genes are pretty." She shrugged and grinned slightly at Genma-san's disbelieving look. "She was always really popular, top kunoichi and all that. I… she was everything to me, my first and best friend, but we somehow let the rivalry over Sasuke get between our friendship."

"You going to try and fix that?" Genma-san asked when she finished.

"Probably." Sakura agreed. "Just not now. Now, I want to grieve." She murmured as the cemetery finally came into view. There were a lot of new graves, even she could tell that, but her eyes flickered from one to the other until they settled on two painfully familiar names right next to each other on the very edge of the graveyard:

Haruno Mebuki

Haruno Kizashi

Sakura fell to her knees in front of the gravestones and a dry sob escaped her. She placed the flowers between the graves and let her head drop as she prayed. She wasn't unconscious for long enough to miss the shijūkunichi but the chance to grieve in peace was welcome. When she was done, she lifted her head and looked around.

"Do you want me to go?" Genma-san asked quietly, turning to leave, but Sakura shook her head.

"If you don't mind, I'd actually prefer it if you stayed." She whispered; his presence was comforting, despite the silence that fell around them. So stay he did, and they knelt beside one another, eyes on the two graves till the sun disappeared behind the horizon and Sakura shivered in the cold.

"C'mon, let's go." Genma-san broke the silence, and obediently, Sakura stood, shaking the stiffness from her muscles. "Tsunade-sama will kill me if you get a cold on the same day you were released."

Sakura didn't laugh, but there was a genuine smile on her face, and when Genma-san bent down and plucked a single daffodil from the ground and presented it to her, it only grew, the significance of the gesture not missed.

What she lost would never be returned nor replaced, but she also gained something in that moment, something that she had a feeling would last for many years to come.

---

Living with Genma-san was…odd.

He was not like her parents, slightly detached and a little reclusive – what the brunet loved, he loved freely and what he hated he made clear. His apartment was neat, surprising Sakura, but it had a homey feel to it that the rosette's house, even with the grandiose decorations handpicked by her mother somehow lacked.

She moved all of her things which had been possible to recover from the wreckage that was her house into the guestroom and used her parents' collective pensions and savings which had been transferred to her account to go shopping and fill up her closet again. She also made a stop by the weapons shop and made a point to not only refill her pouch but also to purchase all the types of weapons Izumo and Kotetsu had worked on with her in the two weeks before the exams. The shopkeeper stared at her items with wide eyes but Sakura had a good dozen times over the sum that all of them had cost her in her wallet alone so she didn't feel too guilty. She must've looked absolutely bizarre walking with all those weapons back to the apartment and needed Genma-san's help with the door. The tokujo took one look at her and snorted then mumbled something like 'I'm not even gonna ask' before he went back to filling in his sudoku.

That was another thing about living with the jounin – he was startlingly, weirdly human behind closed doors. Sakura knew it shouldn't have thrown her off as much as it had but she still retained the idea that all of the higher ranking shinobi were the same indoors as they were on missions. Which she soon realised was absurd. The experience of living with a jounin served to humanise the elite more than anything.

She now knew Genma-san liked puzzles, sudoku and shogi and he was renowned amongst his friends not only for his 'nonexistent' love life despite being a huge flirt but also for his tendency of cracking really bad jokes at really inopportune moments.

The first time Sakura experienced the latter, she snorted into her tea and had a laughing attack, spilling her tea everywhere and cracking the cup for which she then apologised profusely, but Genma-san merely grinned at her as he threw the shards away, dismissing her concerns with 'that's the most enthusiastic response I've had in years'.

(Sakura ended up destroying another teacup the first time she saw Genma-san after he just woke up, heading in a zombie-like state towards the coffee pot and hitting his hip on the corner of the countertop. The best thing was that he then proceeded to glare at the countertop like it had personally wronged him before he moved towards the coffeepot, grumbling under his breath about how inanimate objects were out to get him. The next day Sakura found the corner protectors people often bought when they had children in the house stuck on that same corner and she had to use the countertop to prop herself up when her laughter made her knees weak.)

Five days after she was released from the hospital, the rosette finally found the time to meet with Izumo and Kotetsu. Surprisingly, Genma-san decided to tag along, and Sakura was curious how that would change the dynamic.

Turns out, it didn't change in the slightest.

The two chunin greeted her with hugs, but then they fell into their old rhythm when Sakura playfully swiped at Kotetsu's side and he dodged then pounced on her. The friendly teasing turned into a three-way spar while Genma-san merely watched and provided snide commentary, but after about half an hour had passed, Sakura got an idea.

"Genma-san!" she called, narrowly dodging Izumo's swipe at her shoulder with his knife. "Join us!" she signaled for the duo to stop for a second as a grin played on her lips. "I propose a bet." She announced when the tokujo reached them.

"Oh?" Kotetsu grinned, curious. "Do tell."

"Genma-san and I versus you and Izumo-san. Hand-to-hand and bukijutsu only, and whichever pair gets ten hits on the other wins and gets treated to lunch."

Izumo laughed. "I really see why you like her, Genma." He teased, nudging the brunet.

Genma just smirked, but turned to Sakura and raised an eyebrow. "You know I'm not particularly skilled in bukijutsu." He accused, but there was mirth in his eyes.

Sakura snorted. "You outrank us all." She pointed out. "Besides, I thought the prospect of free food would be motivation enough."

Kotetsu laughed. "You seem confident." He observed, but Sakura shrugged.

"I just want to win."

---

She did win.

Her and Genma-san managed to win by the meager margin of one, the final score being 10-9, but they won nonetheless. They quickly figured out that the best way to approach the Terrible Twins, as Genma-san called them was to split them up. Since they mostly operated as a duo, they would be less used to fighting individually. Still, Sakura was a genin, and both Izumo and Kotetsu had a good ten years of experience on her. She ended up taking 7 out of the 9 hits against her and Genma-san, but compensated for it by landing 4 out of their ten on Kotetsu when he was distracted by the tokujo.

But free lunch overrode her sense of fairness, so Sakura ignored the chunin's grumpy whining and led the way to Yakiniku Q, smiling all the while.

Her grief was fresh, but Genma-san had convinced her that it would not do to dwell on it and forget to live, and she took his words to heart. She could smile and try to enjoy life when outside and keep her grieving to when she was indoors at night. It was a compromise she was willing to make.

And then, her week since she was dismissed from the hospital was up and Sakura showed up at the Hokage Tower, surprised to find Shikamaru there.

"Sakura?" he asked, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." The rosette muttered. "I was in the hospital last week and Tsunade-sama told me to come here today, so here I am."

Shikamaru nodded. "She told me the same thing." Both teens frowned, thinking.

"What do you reckon she wants?" Sakura asked, curious. Her and Shikamaru had never worked together before, and being genin, they wouldn't be allowed to leave the Village on a mission without someone of higher rank. So why…?

"I've got my suspicions, but for once I'd prefer to be proven wrong." The Nara sighed at her questioning gaze and shoved his hands in his pockets. "It will just be too troublesome if I'm right." Was his response.

But before Sakura could ask why exactly he thought they were summoned, the door to Tsunade's office opened and she called them in. Sakura was surprised to note that both Kakashi-sensei and Shikamaru's sensei were already waiting for them in the office.

"Asuma-sensei?" the Nara murmured, confused before a grimace twisted his features. "Nooo… what a drag." And somehow, the tame words managed to sound like a curse.

"Enough with that attitude, brat." Tsunade commanded. "If you've already figured out why you're here then you should be grateful."

Sakura frowned, not liking the fact that she didn't know what was going on. "Tsunade-sama," she called before Shikamaru could protest any further. "with all due respect, why are we here?"

Wordlessly, Tsunade pointed to two green vests stacked on the edge of her desk. When Sakura's eyes widened as she realised what they were, she explained. "I've finally had enough time to look over the reports of the Chunin Exams. Not only the battles themselves but what happened after as well. And I've come to the conclusion that out of your age group, the two of you are the only ones who are suitable for the promotion. Don't look at me like that." She snapped when Shikamaru raised his eyebrows and Sakura stared at her in disbelief. "If it was up to me, I'd have given all of you rookies at least another year in the field for experience. You're still wet-behind-the-ears genin, not even a year out of the Academy, but desperate times call for desperate measures." She paused to collect herself then continued. "The truth is that Konoha suffered great losses during the Invasion. We cannot dawdle and baby you, because if any Village wants to exploit our recent vulnerability, not trying to restock our ranks will give them the perfect opportunity to do so."

Sakura's heart hammered in her chest as Tsunade's words sunk in. Her… a chunin?

"I… Tsunade-sama?" she cut in, her curiosity getting the better of her. "If the need for more shinobi in the upper ranks is so great, why not promote more of the rookies? Why only the two of us?" she asked.

The Godaime regarded her with a mixture of amusement and steel in her gaze. "Because, contrary to popular belief, I do not believe that sending my shinobi out into the field should be the equivalent of sending pigs to slaughter." Even Shikamaru blanched at her words, and Sakura stifled a shiver. "I've read the reports on everybody's performances, but I've only had people come and recommend you two. You mostly, actually." She pointed at Sakura, and the rosette paled. What? But… who? Tsunade answered her question. "It seemed some of the chunin you broke out of that genjutsu were unwilling to let you remain in the ranks as genin. That, and a couple actually said you handled yourself decently when forced into open combat."

Sakura could feel Kakashi-sensei's gaze boring into the back of her head but she kept her eyes resolutely forward. "I… see." She said at last.

Tsunate sighed. "In the simplest terms: Shikamaru, you demonstrated strategic planning, clear thinking and tactics that were at least chunin-level, an awareness of your surroundings and how to use them to your advantage, as well as awareness of your own shortcomings. Despite forfeiting your match and having the worst Academy scores right after that blond brat, some said your intelligence is unparalleled amongst your peers, and after reading the reports, I find that I agree with that assessment." Then, the sharp hazel eyes turned to Sakura and the rosette froze. "And you. Your Academy reports say painfully average in everything but booksmarts where you excelled, but you were abysmal in taijutsu. Yet the reviews and reports from your fights state anything but: you had the shortest preliminary match in at least a decade, then managed to display bukijutsu, Earth Release and some form of genjutsu during your match. That is a too wide range of skills for you to have been able to hide them during the Academy, which leads me to the conclusion that they're recently acquired talents. In contrast to the Nara, you won your battle, then sought out a superior when the Invasion began and used your talents to give Konoha more of a fighting chance. That demonstrates most of the qualities of a chunin. So!" she clapped her hands, startling Sakura and she noticed Shikamaru scowl. "Congratulations! Nara Shikamaru and Haruno Sakura, you are now officially chunin of Konohagakure!"

Shizune, the Hokage's assistant, handed Sakura her flak jacket with a smile, but the rosette stared at it with unseeing eyes.

She was the first to get promoted out of Team 7. Her. The weakling amongst powerhouses. A chunin.

Sakura turned to look at Kakashi-sensei and noted that his eye was marginally wider than she was used to as he gazed at her. Ah, she thought wryly, he wasn't there for my match. All that was probably news to him.

"I suggest you two get acquainted." Tsunade called as the newly-made chunin turned to leave. "You'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on! Oh, and Sakura? The Uchiha is officially allowed visitors." She called after the rosette.

Only after the doors closed behind them did Sakura finally release the breath she'd been holding and gasped for air. Once she was done, she turned to Shikamaru. "I don't know how much truth was in what she said, but… would you like to come to dinner? Not right now!" she clarified when he frowned, then hastened to explain. "At about… seven, maybe?"

Shikamaru seemed to consider her for a moment before he sighed. "Sure." He agreed, and Sakura did a double-take. "Might as well get to know each other."

"Really?" she blurted, not quite able to stop herself. "Sorry, I mean- here, give me your hand and I'll write down my address." Snagging a pen from one of the desks people were meant to fill out their forms on, Sakura scribbled down Genma-san's address on the back of Shikamaru's hand. When she was done, she straightened, then waggled her fingers awkwardly in a mockery of a wave. "I guess I'll see you later?" she mumbled, then cursed herself for making it sound like a question but the Nara merely nodded, a slight smirk on his face as he turned to leave.

"Ah, Shikamaru!" Sakura called out again when she remembered something. When he paused and turned to face her, she asked sheepishly, "What's your favorite food?"

At that, the brunet snorted and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, I'm on a team with Chouji, Sakura; I'll eat anything." But when he noted her bemused stare, he sighed and added, "But if you had, say, mackerel, that'd be cool."

"Kay! See you at seven!"

From there, Sakura watched the Nara go before she turned on her heel and started her trek to the hospital to visit Sasuke. She felt like years had passed since she'd last properly interacted with her teammates – if she remembered correctly, last time they really acted like a team had been on that last day before the preliminaries and that, for Sakura, felt like a lifetime ago. She was a different person from the girl she'd been then: she'd killed people and saved people and lost people in the meantime, and she wondered how that would affect her relationship with her teammates.

Once at the hospital, she politely inquired where Sasuke was being kept, but once she got to the room she found it empty, only the window clued her in to where her teammate – who was still supposed to be on bedrest – may have gone.

The roof. Really? She grouched inwardly. What is it with men and their hatred for staying put?!

Sakura leaped out of the window and with chakra in her feet ran up the side of the wall, vaulting over the last part to land on the roof. What she saw made her heart stop for a second before it restarted in overtime as she thought what to do:

Both her teammates were charging at each other with such intense looks of hatred on their faces, particularly on Sasuke's, that Sakura nearly flinched. The chakra in their respective hands took the form of techniques the rosette had only ever heard of in Genma-san's stories: if she was right, Naruto was brandishing a Rasengan while Sasuke wielded Chidori. She remembered Genma-san saying that they were both lethal techniques, yet her boys showed no signs of stopping.

The rosette steeled herself – there was only one thing she could think to do, only one thing which would stop the teens in their tracks long enough for their respective jutsu to dispel. It was something Genma-san told her about, something reserved purely for higher ranked shinobi, but what Sakura needed it for was its shock-factor. She remembered who she thought of the first time she'd been asked to do it and used that same face now; in her mind's eye, Naruto and Sasuke were no longer themselves, but Orochimaru, and Sakura felt her hatred for the man grow.

His fault Konoha is destroyed, his fault Sasuke has that mark, his fault the Sandaime is dead, his fault my parents are gone, his fault, his fault hisfault-!

She heard their gasps before she even realised what she'd done.

Naruto and Sasuke stood, paralysed and shaking, Rasengan and Chidori flickering out of existence until they were no more as both boys were overcome with a vision of their own death.

As Sakura folded her fingers to dispel the technique, she felt a swoosh of air beside her and turned her head to see Kakashi-sensei, but he didn't meet her gaze. His face was blank, his only eye narrowed as he surveyed the frozen boys and Sakura hastened to break them out of the illusion, a wave of guilt overcoming her.

Slowly, very slowly, the boys' heads swiveled to face and the guilty feeling in Sakura's stomach only grew.

"Sakura… chan?" Naruto asked, his voice hoarse as if he'd been screaming.

But Sasuke's reaction was different. Sasuke was angry.

"What did you do?!" he hissed, his voice demanding and furious and his eyes bored into her accusingly.

The Sakura from the Forest of Death would have withered under that gaze and began apologizing profusely, but the Sakura that faced Sasuke's glare just then was a different person. People changed after they lost somebody; they grew up. And just then, the rosette found herself thinking the behaviour of her teammates as nothing more than childish.

So she faced the Uchiha and squared her shoulders, her chin out and her chunin vest clearly displayed as she spoke.

"I stopped you from killing each other." She announced, annoyed when her voice shook slightly. "I know why Kakashi-sensei taught you that move, Sasuke and I'm glad it helped against Gaara, but that doesn't justify using it on a teammate." She told him, resolutely not looking to the jounin to confirm her words. Sasuke snorted derisively but Sakura already shifted her attention to the still-stupefied blond. "And Naruto, I don't know who taught you the Yondaime's technique," she felt more than saw Kakashi-sensei stiffen at her words, "but I doubt they'd have appreciated you using it, a lethal force, on Sasuke."

"Maa, Sakura-chan, I thought I was meant to be the sensei of this team." Kakashi-sensei commented idly when she finished, speaking for the first time since he got to the roof.

"I-I'm sorry!" Sakura stuttered, suddenly embarrassed by her display. She hung her head to hide her blush and the tears that threatened to escape. How can I be affected so much by so few words? She despaired inwardly.

"But Sakura's not wrong." The jounin announced suddenly, sharply. "Sasuke, we're going to have a chat about using that jutsu on anybody but an enemy, not to mention you're still supposed to be on bedrest. And Naruto, I'm sure Jiraiya would love to know what you nearly used the technique he taught you to do."

Naruto had the grace to look bashful but Sasuke looked enraged. "I am not a child, sensei." The word was said angrily, like an insult. "You cannot tell me what to– what are you wearing?!" and suddenly, Sakura had three pairs of eyes on her, Naruto curious, Sasuke furious, and Kakashi-sensei infuriatingly unreadable. The rosette glanced down self-consciously, checking; she had her standard blue pants on and green turtleneck under her–

Oh.

"My chunin vest." She replied somewhat shyly, cautiously raising her gaze to meet her teammate's shell-shocked stares.

"You got promoted!" Naruto cheered, though his grin didn't quite reach his eyes, at the same time as Sasuke demanded incredulously; "You got promoted? You?"

"Oi, Sasuke-teme, don't be an asshole, you didn't see Sakura-chan's battle-!" the blond jumped in to defend her, but Sasuke had already turned to Kakashi-sensei and he was seething.

"You told me I didn't show all the requirements for chunin!" he accused. "You told me I was 'lacking' what it takes to be promoted! But then how is she-" he spat, pointing at Sakura angrily and the rosette froze at the hatred in his gaze. "a chunin?! She didn't fight Gaara, she didn't have to battle a fully-transformed jinchuuriki, she probably stayed there and hid until all the fighting was over 'cause she's weak and unreliable and annoying-!"

Thump.

The spine of Kakashi-sensei's book impacted against Sasuke's head, cutting off his rant. "That's enough of that." The jounin chastised mildly but there was a steel undertone in his voice. "Apologise to Sakura-chan, Sasuke."

But Sakura cut him off. "No, sensei." She murmured, her voice empty, far away, and she shook her head so her bangs covered her eyes, hiding her no doubt broken expression from view. Weak. Unreliable. Annoying. Unreliable. Unreliable. The last word from the Uchiha's rant was what caused her the most pain. Hadn't all those months training with Genma-san and even the weeks of research before that been so she could become a teammate they could trust? Someone they could depend on? What did it say of her if the very same teammates she sought to become strong enough to protect thought her unreliable? Was she just destined to be weak? But then, she glanced down at her new vest and she got her answer: if she truly were weak, she would not have gotten the promotion. And it was with Genma-san's words floating through her head, as well as Izumo's and Kotetsu's compliments and even Tsunade's calm assessment of her accomplishments that Sakura raised her chin to stare at her sensei. A few tears fell from her eyes but her voice, when she spoke, was strong. "No, sensei." She repeated. "It's good to know where I stand in this team." And with those words, she vaulted over the edge of the roof and ran.

---

Sakura burst through the door of her and Genma-san's shared apartment and slammed it shut, sliding down with her back against the doorframe till she could curl up into a ball as sobs shook her frame.

"Kid?" she heard the tokujo call from the kitchen, but she was too weak and breathless to answer. "Kid, you alright?" soft footsteps grew nearer until a gentle hand fell on her shaking shoulder. "Okaaay, you need to get up." Genma-san murmured but when Sakura still made no move to get out of the position she sank into, he sighed and settled beside her instead. "Fair enough. Is there anyone who needs to 'accidentally' end up in the hospital?" he asked and Sakura actually snorted through her tears and shook her head. Then, reconsidered and shrugged as she remembered Sasuke's harsh, cutting words.

She could sense Genma-san's raised eyebrow. "That's not the decisive 'no!' I was expecting which leads me to think it was quite serious. So, spill." And somehow, as she burrowed her face into the surprised tokujo's shoulder and shifted closer to his warmth, the rosette found herself obeying, detailing everything that happened after she left Tsunade's office to the moment she got back home. Genma-san listened, scowling occasionally and stiffening as she told him some of Sasuke's choice words.

"So, to summarise," the brunet murmured, his voice cold even as his thumb rubbed comforting circles into the bone of Sakura's shoulder. "bratty Uchiha's panties were in a twist because you got promoted? That's not something you should concern yourself with, he'll get over himself if he knows what's good for him. And congratulations for the promotion by the way, told you that you could do it so I believe you owe me dinner." And Sakura actually laughed, wet and with some tears still clinging stubbornly to her lashes but happy nonetheless.

"Oh, and I also invited Shikamaru for dinner." She announced, only just remembering as she lifted her head to gaze up at Genma-san's face. "Would you like to accompany me to the market? I have to find mackerel somewhere."

The tokujo sent her a long-suffering look. "I don't actually have a choice, do I?" and Sakura laughed as she wiped her face with the edge of her sleeve and stood, stretching out a hand to the brunet to heft him up as well.

"Nope!" she called, suddenly cheerful as she disappeared to get her money and promptly grabbed Genma-san by the sleeve and dragged him out. "Let's go!"

---

When Shikamaru dutifully made his way to the address still scribbled on his hand, he did not expect to end up in the shinobi district. As far as he was concerned, Sakura was the only one of the Rookie 9 from a civilian family, not that he'd had too many dealings with the girl before they were saddled together as chunin and told to get acquainted. She was always too… loud. Her hair and voice were always loud and though Shikamaru could sometimes appreciate that there was a brain hidden behind the fangirl, as she would not have been the top kunoichi academically otherwise, he always struggled to see past her fangirl side. But the rosette he met by the Hokage's office, or even earlier during the last stage of the Chunin Exams, she was different. He couldn't quite pinpoint how or what exactly made her different, but the sheer fact that she won against a girl who should've and would've easily flattened the Sakura just after graduation made the Nara understandably suspicious.

Still, he didn't expect for the door to be opened by a man he distinctly remembered was the proctor for the third stage of the Exams. Shikamaru was ready to apologise and say he must've gotten the wrong address when the man stepped aside to let him in and called into the house, "He's here!"

Not a second later, Sakura came bounding out of what he assumed was the kitchen, a navy apron tied around a pale yellow kimono top and beige cargo pants. "Ah, Shikamaru!" she greeted cheerfully. "You're early!"

Shikamaru stared up at the clock he could see on the far wall. "I'm two minutes late." He stated flatly staring at the girl in disbelief as she waved him off.

"I got used to Kakashi-sensei's perception of time, by whose standards you're way early! Come in, come in!" she ushered him in and pointed to the sofa. "Make yourself comfortable, I'm just finishing dinner." Then, a sly grin appeared on her face. "Genma-san can entertain you, I'm sure."

The jounin sighed in what Shikamaru identified as sardonic long-suffering. "Kid, I was actually hoping to go to the bar and do grown-up stuff rather than play dress up." He complained though there was an amused glint in his eyes.

The Nara was expecting Sakura to back down but she surprised him by sniping back sarcastically; "By 'grown-up stuff' you mean getting shitfaced drunk or flirting your way through the female civilian population?" she snarked though there was a grin on her face as she stirred the food.

The brunet frowned in mock-anger and narrowed his eyes. "That's it, you're banned from Kotetsu. He's a bad influence."

Sakura finally turned away from the stove and levelled the jounin with an unimpressed look though the corner of her mouth was inching upwards. "Need I remind you that you're not actually my mother, kaa-san?" she teased, surprising Shikamaru.

"Brat." The jounin scowled before he stepped forward and ruffled her hair. "I'll be back soon." He threw over his shoulder as he made his way to the door.

"Mhmm," Sakura acknowledged idly. "I'll leave the dinner in the fridge." She called, earning herself a cheery 'thanks!' before the door opened and shut as the jounin left.

"Sorry for that," the rosette murmured as she turned to him with an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry." Shikamaru waved her off. "Though… I thought your parents were civilian?" he asked, the words turning out more like a question than a statement.

"They were." Sakura replied as she set the dishes on the low table. Luckily, she seemed to read the curiosity on his face at her non-answer and explained. "They were killed during the Invasion. My house was flattened, so I'm staying with Genma-san till it's rebuilt."

Shit, Shikamaru cursed himself, the pleasant, teasing atmosphere from a moment ago gone. "I-I'm sorry." He apologised awkwardly, looking anywhere but at the rosette.

But instead of crying or bursting out, Sakura waved him off. "Don't worry about it, it wasn't your fault. And I didn't ask you to come here so I can cry on you, Shikamaru." She smiled lopsidedly and Shikamaru was suddenly reminded of the brunet that left them not a few minutes ago and realised how little he actually knew this Sakura. So he allowed the corner of his lips to quirk up and nodded then dug into the food.

Dinner was delicious, though Shikamaru still made a comment of 'I'm not some royalty, Sakura, you didn't have to do this' at which the rosette shot him a bemused look and promptly ordered him to shut up and eat. She'd made broiled mackerel – and Shikamaru ignored the weird warmth in his chest that she'd listened to what his favourite food was – along with rice, dangojiru, vegetable tempura, tsukemono and inari-zushi and the Nara wondered why she bothered to do so much for him. But he kept his silence on that subject and the conversation strayed to more lighthearted things like favourite desserts, books, past missions, ambitions and the like till the food was long gone and Shikamaru realised that somewhere during that time he'd swapped to sitting cross-legged with his elbows resting on the table and fingers steepled under his chin while the rosette mirrored him but rested her cheek on her palm, an indulgent smile on her face.

The atmosphere was… surprisingly not awkward, and Shikamaru somehow didn't find himself growing neither bored nor annoyed with the conversation. Perturbed by his own behaviour, he cast his eyes around the room till they fell on a very familiar box.

"You play shogi?" he asked, his tone slightly disbelieving. Sakura shrugged in response, the movement loose, relaxed even as her eyes followed his gaze.

"That's actually Genma-san's 'cause he's an old man at heart, but I know my way around a shogi board, why?" she replied, her eyes glinting with amusement.

Shikamaru could only blame how sluggish and comfortable the food had made him for what tumbled out of his mouth next. "Play with me." He ordered.

Sakura shot him a surprised look but shrugged again and rose to clean up the table while gesturing Shikamaru to set up the board which he did.

(he refused to acknowledge that he was curious. That'd be too troublesome.)

When Genma got back, it was to a silent house. Curious, he peeked his head into the lounge and found the two sat over a shogi board, a plate of daifuku between them, and if it weren't for the rosette's subtle glance up when he appeared he'd have thought they were too into the game to notice him.

He decided he was justified to groan. "I leave the house so you two can do teenager things and be stupid without judgement, not so you can play old man games." He despaired, getting a snort from the brat and barely a shrug from the Nara before they turned their attention back to the game. Now Genma was really curious.

He walked up to the table and peered at the board. At first glance, the Nara appeared to be winning, his Mino defense basic but holding strong while he concentrated on getting through the rosette's comparatively more thorough defense, though she was kept busy with keeping out his promoted lance and pawn.

At first glance.

Genma snorted and nudged Shikamaru in the shoulder, levelling Sakura with an amused stare. "Kid, you might wanna watch out for her tsugifu or you'll suddenly find yourself a king short."

He did not expect for the rosette to let out a long-suffering groan and glare at him while the Nara stiffened and stared at the board intensely before comprehension dawned in his eyes.

"Genma-san you ass, it's taken me five games to set him up for that one and you just ruined it!" she whined, sounding on the verge of tears though her eyes glittered with barely concealed amusement. So she had realised that the Nara hadn't noticed her tactic. He wondered just how much she'd dumbed herself down and simplified her game in the previous matches in order to be able to slip that one past him.

It didn't matter in the end because the Nara won in less than nine moves from then on and Sakura accepted the defeat graciously, but Genma reasoned that sometimes, getting somebody like Shikamaru who came from a family renowned for their strategic thinking and sharp intelligence to take her seriously in a strategy game was victory enough. The thought seemed to be shared by the rosette as the pleased grin didn't fade from her face even after the Nara left, thanking her for the dinner and the game and leaving her with a calm assessment that she was 'not as troublesome as he'd believed' for which he'd earned himself a laugh and a surprisingly fond smile.

But her happiness was not to last.

Team 7 had been ordered to meet up and train as usual despite the fact that one of its members was chunin and their squad leader was away on a mission. But the rosette came back after less than three hours, tears in her eyes, and wordlessly dragged Genma out of the house and to the training grounds that had become theirs over the length of their acquaintance.

When she attacked him, there was none of the usual grace in her movements. She was angry and vicious and uncontrolled and overreaching, but even when he repeatedly knocked her down, she kept jumping back up, spurred by her frustration and anger from a situation she still wouldn't talk about but Genma had no doubt had something to do with the Uchiha's resentment towards her advancement and therefore her by extension. And about an hour into her getting repeatedly smashed into the dirt, she calmed down. Tired and sweaty and covered in grime, but some of the light was back in her eyes. She thanked him profusely then dragged him back to his apartment, disappeared to take a shower then presented him with pumpkin broth for dinner which earned her a lazy grin and a hair ruffle.

But Genma wasn't stupid.

He wasn't fooled by the easy smile and teasing words and the firm reassurances in everything but words that the rosette was okay. She was far from okay and the deaths of her parents left far greater emotional wounds on her than she'd like to have people believe. And the only reason Genma himself knew was because he heard the heart-wrenching sobs, the agonised cries and desperate, sorrowful pleas of come back, come back please this isn't fair come back-! that came from the rosette's room every night. It seemed that was the only time when she'd allow herself to truly grieve, but Genma couldn't help but worry; it was unhealthy, bottling everything in during the day, pretending everything was fine and then spending hours each night crying herself to sleep. He knew better than to call her out on it though.

But a week after the impromptu spar, the muffled cries he'd gotten used to were gone. It was almost worryingly silent, and Genma finally gave up pretending to sleep and padded down the stairs just to check, to get rid of that niggling feeling of not right. Yet when he entered the lounge, he found the rosette on the sofa, curled around one of the thicker books from his bookshelf, a small lamp providing the little light she needed to read by. He glanced at the clock on the wall, 3:07am stared back at him and he blinked once to get his thoughts in order then asked, going for blasé;

"Can't sleep?"

Sakura shot him a fond look, used as she was to him to note the undertone of real concern in his voice. She patted the spot next to her and he obligingly settled down, glancing over her shoulder at the title. "'A History of the Great Five Shinobi Nations: Revised'?" he quoted, his tone incredulous. "Really, kid?"

The rosette shrugged. "It's quite nice for a bit of light reading, though the author was clearly originally from either Iwa or Kumogakure since he spent a good five pages raving about how nice it was to see green and water in Kirigakure, and I haven't even gotten to the section about Konoha." She told him with mirth shining in her eyes, but Genma sensed something beneath that and clung on.

"Mhmm, fascinating." He acknowledged indulgently, then poked her side. "How about you tell me the real reason you're engaging in this 'light reading' of yours in the first place?" he asked and counted it a win when she stiffened.

"Can't hide much from you, can I?" Sakura asked, though it was more resigned than irritated as she sighed. When Genma's answer was a cheerful 'nope!' she shut her book and turned to face him. "I- originally, I wanted to get stronger so my teammates could trust me, could rely on me, as you well know." Genma nodded. He'd heard that a couple of times now, but he opted not to interrupt. He didn't know when she'd next choose to open up to him, so he'd take what she was willing to reveal patiently. "But, as you also probably know, getting stronger didn't lead them to trust me, but to resent me. And… at first, I felt at fault. For upsetting the careful balance of power we had going on, or something equally- nevermind. In any case, I felt at fault. But… now I'm thinking… wondering, really, if I wasn't a bit too eager to accept all the blame. I worked hard for that promotion, you know?" she explained, growing louder and more upset by the end. Genma just nodded because he did know, probably better than anyone else. "And at first, I felt guilty for thinking that, but now… I'm not, y'know? The only thing that's bugging me is that I will not waste my nindo on people who shun me for trying to help them. But… now I'm stuck. Because wanting to get stronger for the benefit of somebody apart from myself actually worked; I got off my ass and started training seriously and I got better. But now I don't know where to get that motivation from." And at last, she met his gaze, hers far more resigned than it had any right to be.

Genma nodded thoughtfully. "The moment you graduate the Academy, you're told that your allegiance should lie first and foremost with the Village, with your Kage, before it lies with any clan head or family member. For me, my motivation to get better stems from my desire to protect Konohagakure." He admitted slowly, counting it a success when the rosette's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"The Village?" she questioned doubtfully and Genma nodded.

"Yeah, but don't think of it as just buildings and overcrowded streets. Think of the people, those close to you as well as all the strangers, all those without a voice of their own or too weak to protect themselves. When I used to go on really difficult, life-threatening missions for the Sandaime, that's what helped me fight and kill and struggle and yet still come crawling back every time. It's… just a thought." He added when Sakura's eyes glistened wetly.

"I… I think I like that." She admitted at last, her voice quiet but soft, pleased. "I… thank you, Genma-san."

Genma shrugged. "No problem. Was there anything else keeping you up or did I get everything?" he checked and got a wry smile in response. "Ah."

Sakura laughed. "It's nothing that serious. I just… I think I'm going to request a mission." She confessed, fingering the corner of the page. "Something outside of the Land of Fire, preferably quite long. I just need to get away from them for a bit, you know?" Genma didn't know, but he had a hunch of who 'they' were, and he understood.

"Sure." He shrugged. "The Godaime shouldn't have a problem with that as long as you provide a more extensive explanation than 'my teammates are jealous assholes and I want out'." He teased, earning a snort from the rosette before she rested her head on his shoulder and lightly patted his thigh.

"Thanks, Genma-san." She muttered at last and then her breathing evened out and Genma suddenly found himself with an armful of sleeping chunin. Ah, shit.

---

The next morning, Sakura appeared at the Hokage's office, dressed in her usual outfit complete with her new flak jacket and politely presented her request.

Tsunade regarded her with a curious gaze. "Why the sudden urge to spread your wings?" she asked, at which Sakura sighed.

"I would like to do something different, Tsunade-sama. It's… rewarding, working in the Village and the community I'm so familiar with, but I'd like to travel, to maybe see the other Villages too, how the societies differ. It's… an odd request, I'm aware, and I'll perfectly understand if you say I'm out of my depth even asking, but… I just wanted to try." She explained, forcing herself not to slump her shoulders.

Surprisingly, a smirk appeared on the Hokage's face. "That attitude of yours will need some work, kid." She told Sakura frankly, startling the rosette. "I'd been thinking of sending you and the Nara on some mission together to test my newest chunin and this is as good an occasion as any. If you go fetch Shikamaru now I'll only have to brief you once."

Sakura blinked owlishly then stared at the woman for the few seconds, uncomprehending before a hesitant smile bloomed on her face. "I- thank you, Tsunade-sama!" and then she was off, barreling towards the Nara compound with a grin.

She dragged a curious, complaining Shikamaru back to the Hokage's office, the only explanation she had ready to offer was 'we have a mission'. Nonetheless, when the Godaime finally grinned at them and announced their mission even Sakura's enthusiasm faded away to be replaced by disbelief.

"Beg your pardon, Hokage-sama?" she asked, stunned, trading equally stupefied looks with Shikamaru.

"I got you your 'long-term mission' brat, you should be grateful." Tsunade announced, gleeful in the face of their shock. "A diplomatic mission to present a potential peace treaty to the new Mizukage and hopefully persuade her to agree to it."

Shikamaru looked slightly pale. "Tsunade-sama, this could have serious consequences for Konoha's foreign policy if we were to fail." He pointed out carefully and Sakura nodded vigorously in support of his words.

"Well then," the blonde sent them a dangerous smile. "you better make sure you don't fail, ne?" then her smile morphed into a grin, "Besides, out of your whole lot, the two of you are the best suited for this sort of thing. And I have complete – well, almost complete – faith that you won't fail." And then she tossed them a scroll. "Here are the rough outlines of the terms of the treaty. Depending what the Mizukage's reaction to them will be, this mission may take anywhere between, oh I don't know, two weeks, if she immediately tells you to leave, or a couple of months if you somehow manage to make a good impression. Do you accept?"

Diplomacy. Sakura thought dazedly. Words and statistics and convincing people they're better off with our help and helping us in return despite having a history of wars and misunderstandings and sabotage between us. And we won't even be convincing normal people but a Kage. Oh, god we're in over our heads but somehow- she shot a glance at Shikamaru who met her gaze and she could see the same mix of apprehension and excitement reflected in his eyes as they both turned to respond-

"We accept."

---

there we go! the next chapter might take me a bit longer to write since I'll be back at school, but i'll try my best.

as always, if there's something odd or that doesn't make sense, feel free to PM me or mention it in your review and I'll try my best to answer/fix it.